Soccer / ballon d or

The recently concluded Ballon d'Or didn’t end without drama and talking points. Of course, Christiano Ronaldo was not present at the ceremony and that generated lots of controversies also. Before the ceremony began, Ronaldo was accused of playing football just to match up with Messi’s Ballon D'or numbers and that resulted in CR7 labeling the report as false and branding the ballon d'Or spokesman as a lair. Also, two new award section was created with which Chelsea and Lewandowski scooped the award. In my opinion, those awards were created out of pity and to compensate the Chelsea players who missed out on the awards and to compensate Lewandowski for not being rewarded with the Ballon d'Or which he rightly deserves. This act by the Ballon d'Or organizers further shows that they knew that players from the Chelsea squad and even Lewandowski deserved the Ballon d'Or gong more. So many people have spoken out against the award and how confusing their winner criteria are. It is not transparent enough and it could be tweaked to suit the person they want to win. Many have termed the Ballon d'Or award as Messi award and it is hard to argue with their assessment. The organizers have regularly dished out the award to Messi even on days when he was not deserving to be among the running for the award. This award showed clearly how Lewandowski was robbed and Messi in his honesty confirmed the fact that he thought Lewandowski should have won it. Enough about Messi and the awards, let's talk about how Mendy was robbed of the award he deserved for a great season he has had with Chelsea. I am not even going to go into the racist issue he has suffered weeks and days leading to the award, but I will speak on what he has suffered from just being an African. Mendy cried out days ago about how other goalkeepers have been portrayed in their countries jersey while he was the odd one wearing an inner. That shows the level of disregard that the Ballon d'Or organizers have for Africa and African players at large. The best goalkeeper award was awarded to Donnarumma and we all know that Mendy was robbed. Kepa would have been awarded the best goalie award if has been the one in the gaol post for Chelsea and he accomplished half of what Mendy achieved in the goal post. While this occurrence tilt towards racism and hate, it can not be argued that the award has lost its value and of course the spark that was once bestowed on it. Many spoke out against the award, and it further shows how much people are beginning to despise their choices. It is no lie that they were top stars who were noticeably absent from the ceremony and this trend will continue as the award continues to lose credibility.